Imaging’s role in the fight against COVID-19

ESR emphasises imaging’s role in the fight against COVID-19

The ESR calls for healthcare systems to implement multidisciplinary and integrated solutions to offer the right diagnostic and treatment options to patients, highlighting that medical imaging plays an important part in this endeavour by offering expertise to accurately diagnose and treat COVID-19 patients.

Key points of the statement, which is divided into six parts, include the importance of using medical imaging for an accurate diagnosis, having sufficient PPE and adequate working procedures during the crisis, and also highlight the need to maintain high-quality levels of care for corona and non-corona patients with continued free circulation of medical goods between hospitals to ensure ongoing care. Further key points include the need to acknowledge the contribution of medical societies to education, clinical practice and research in order to translate this into actionable support measures, and the need to ensure that healthcare systems are resilient enough to withstand similar crises in the future.

The statement also highlights a document published in European Radiology in collaboration with the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI), which summarises the most important imaging features and findings of COVID-19. This document is freely available to access via the following link.

Further measures by the ESR to support radiologists and other healthcare practitioners at this time include weekly episodes on COVID-19 on ESR Connect, involving a number of leading radiologists and other health experts, the establishment of a COVID-19 Resource Hub on its website and the dissemination of useful material via its social media channels.

The ESR calls on the EU institutions and Member States to act in a spirit of collaboration to jointly overcome the unprecedented challenge that they are currently facing.

It is essential to rapidly establish a free to access case collection of COVID-19 images so that the radiological community can quickly share reference cases amongst affected colleagues.

To help with this time-sensitive issue, Eurorad offers a fast-track review process as well as language assistance so that you can focus on what’s most important. Authors should use the special template for COVID-19 cases & submit through our online submission system.